There is no honesty test which sellers must take and pass before they can sell on eBay. A good number of folks who are interested in ebay are hesitant because of the potential for fraud. This report presents ten important ways to protect yourself from criminals on EBay.

Criminals active on eBay have become quite sophisticated – many don’t even waste the time to tap the keys and sign up when they create phony identifications for cheating. They use computer programs called “bots” (short for robots) to create phony identities on eBay by the hundreds. One tell-tale sign of these phony bot created identifications is their weird and random names. Real sellers typically have names like “bigbill037” or “fredscollectibles”. The phony bot identifications are nonsense things like “mqncpfbh” or “tkxwovzs”. Be sure to watch out and be extra careful if your seller’s name is some strange random string of letters and numbers that sounds nothing like any name in any language. This is actually a very important tip to remember as phony identities are the beginning of most crimes committed on eBay.

So how much crime is there on eBay? Well it depends on how you count crime - and when eBay counts it, they do the statistics to their benefit. Many frauds are not reported because the person scammed is embarrassed, some are never even recognized. Though real, these types of cases are never counted. As far as the total number of fraudulent auctions, it is likely less than 1% of the total auctions on eBay. However it is still very significant and accounts for nearly 60% of all reported internet fraud. There are some positive steps you can take to protect yourself. To Learn more about how to stay safe, here are 10 important rules which you can follow that will do a lot to keep you out of trouble. If you follow these faithfully, you will avoid 99% of the problems and fraud.

1. Never buy from anyone who has been registered on eBay less than 1 year.
2. Never buy from anyone with fewer than 100 positive feedbacks as a seller (and not less than 1000 positive feedback if the seller is operating from a third world type country).
3. Always make payment by paypal or other credit card.
4. Use your Common sense.
5. If you ever get asked by an eBay seller to complete your transaction off eBay, run for the hills.
6. If you find an eBay advertisement for sale, and the verbiage on the advertisement says not to make a bid but to contact them or do something else, run for the hills this is a standard fraud technique.
7. Never log on to PayPal or eBay through your e-mail system.
8. Absolutely use an escrow service for all high dollar transactions.
9. Never, never, never, give out your personal information.
10. Always read the fine print, and the full terms of the bid offer.

For more information on avoiding fraud and criminals on ebay, see the authors website at:
http://nevada-outback-gems.com/ebay_fraud/Encyclopedia_fraud_P2.htm

To learn more about how to protect yourself and stay safe, click here to read this important e-book:
http://nevada-outback-gems.com/ebay_fraud/Encyclopedia_of_fraud.htm

Chris Ralph writes on small scale mining and prospecting for the ICMJ Mining Journal. He has a Mining Engineering degree from the Mackay School of Mines and currently works as an Environmental Engineer. He owns 3 Nevada turquoise mines and markets his own line of jewelry. His jewelry and information site can be seen at:
http://nevada-outback-gems.com